VA Senator McEachin: The 10th Amendment has been “Deemed” Unconstitutional
Written by:
Josh Eboch
From Henrico Senator, Donald McEachin, and courtesy of the Richmonder blog, comes the latest flaccid attempt to cast the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as alternately “unconstitutional”, “illegal” and “neo-confederate”.
It seems McEachin is perturbed by Gov. McDonnell’s recent decision not to publicly confirm or deny the fact that sovereign states have the power to judge for themselves the constitutionality of federal laws.
What’s not clear is why McEachin chose to pick on Gov. McDonnell when his real beef lies with Thomas Jefferson. After all, it was the author of the Declaration of Independence who pointed out in 1798 that the several states had
constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: …that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that…each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.
Rather than contest the clear and irrefutable logic of a legendary Virginia statesman like Jefferson, McEachin instead hides behind the skirts (I mean robes) of Supreme Court precedent. Precedent which has conveniently found that, not only is the Court (itself a branch of the federal government) the final judge of constitutionality, but the federal government’s power actually has no limits at all.
That sure sounds an awful lot like the general government’s “discretion, and not the Constitution,” has become “the measure of its powers.”
Forget all the examples of nullification being used peacefully and successfully by states to increase individual freedom, from medical marijuana to resistance of the Fugitive Slave Acts. According to McEachin, the 10th Amendment is nothing but ”unconstitutional and illegal drivel.”
Is it any wonder that these statists are so fond of piously quoting case law in a pathetic effort to avoid having to defend such outrageous claims with logic or reason?
P.S. Click to hear Tom Woods on Virginia’s own Freedom & Prosperity Radio discussing his powerful new book Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century.
Crossposted from the Tertium Quids blog.
Josh is a proud "tenther", freelance writer, and activist originally from the Washington, D.C. area. He is a blogger for TAC's Tenther Grapevine and the State Chapter Coordinator for the Virginia Tenth Amendment Center.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: The views expressed in the above post are those of the individual author only. The article is presented here to foster discussion, and does not necessarily represent the views or positions of the national Tenth Amendment Center.
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This entry was posted on Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 9:22 pm. It is filed under Commentary, federalism, Nullification, Sovereignty, VA Politics and tagged with 10th amendment, constitution, federalism, Limited Government, mcdonnell, Nullification, state sovereignty, tenth amendment.
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Revolution…
If a band of thieves and thugs – the federal government – appoints a panel of their friends to offer their opinion on thievery and thuggery, why would anyone be shocked when their friends say it's all good. Remember, they have spiffy black robes and really shiny shoes.
You need to come to grips with the fact that the final arbiter of the U.S. Constitution is the U.S. Supreme Court, and the concept of nullification was rejected by the court unanimously in COOPER v. AARON, 358 U.S. 1 (1958)
Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court are binding authority when interpreting the U.S. Constitution and laws. Its called "Stare Decisis." Do you understand this?
COOPER v. AARON and the cases cited within it killed nullification dead, and you are deluding yourself–and possibly flirting with treason–if you believe otherwise.
@Anonymous (JC),
Please see the final paragraph of the original post. You seem unable or unwilling to comprehend the fact that the growing number of people who disagree with your point of view fundamentally do NOT believe the Supreme Court legitimately possesses the authority you so blithely assert.
And your only response is to keep repeating things like Marbury v. Madison or Cooper v. Aaron, as if repeating the precedents often enough will make us all forget that Supreme Court case law represents nothing more than the compiled opinions of federal agents on the scope of their own power.
That may be good enough for you, but it's not good enough for me, or for millions of other Americans.